This blog will list news about all aspects of scorpion biology and important taxonomical updates from The scorpion Files. The Scorpion Files is a leading information source about scorpions, and has among others an updated list of all extant families, genera and species.(C) Jan Ove Rein and The Scorpion Files.

16 May, 2017

Luis de Armas has investigated scorpion materials from Haiti and concluded that the recently described new species from Haiti, Centruroides haitiensis Lourenco, 2016 (Buthidae), is a junior synonym of Centruroides alayoni Armas, 1999. The latter was previously known from the Dominican Republic, and this is the first record from Haiti.

Centruroides haitiensis Lourenco, 2016 has not been listed in The Scorpion Files or mentioned in the blog because I have not been able to get this article in full text. The reference for this article is listed below.

Abstract:Centruroides haitiensis Lourenço, 2016, from Grande Cayemite, Haiti, is regarded as a junior synonym of Centruroides alayoni Armas, 1999, previously known from southern Pedernales Province (215 km east of Grande Cayemite), Dominican Republic. Consequently, C. alayoni is herein recorded for the first time from Haiti. The list of the Haitian species of the genus Centruroides Marx, 1890 is given.

05 May, 2017

Wilson Lourenco and co-workers have recently discovered a new species of Buthacus Birula, 1908 (Buthidae) from the Algerian Saharan Desert. The presence of microendemic populations in the region is also discussed.Abstract:For almost 20 years now, the genus Buthacus Birula, 1908 (family Buthidae) has been the subject of an important number of studies. Most of the species considered in these studies come from North Africa and more recently from Algeria. At present, one more new species of Buthacus is described from the Algerian Saharan Desert, raising the number of confirmed known species in Algeria to eight. This new discovery attests to a considerable degree of diversity found in the Algerian Saharan Desert but in particular suggests the presence in these deserts of microendemic populations.

04 May, 2017

Andria de Paula Santos-Da-Silva and co-workers have recently published a study on Bothriurus Peters, 1861 in Northeastern Brazil. Two new species are described.

Bothriurus aguardente Santos-Da-Silva, Carvahlo & Brescovit, 2017

Bothriurus delmari Santos-Da-Silva, Carvahlo & Brescovit, 2017

Abstract:Two new species of Bothriurid scorpions, Bothriurus delmari n. sp. and B. aguardente n. sp., are described from Bahia, Northeastern Brazil. These species are included in the asper group owing to the peculiar hemispermatophore morphology. These two newly described species increases to 47 the number of known and valid Bothriurus species. Additionaly, the known distribution of Bothriurus asper is updated.

02 May, 2017

Carlos E. Santibanez-Lopez and Edmundo Gonzalez-Santillan have recently described a new species of Diplocentrus Peters, 1861 (Scorpionidae) from Mexico.

Diplocentrus duende Santibanez-Lopez & Gonzalez-Santillan, 2017

Abstract:Diplocentrus duende n. sp. is described based on adult males collected from a locality in the Tehuaca´n–Cuicatla´n Valley, Mexico. This species has punctate pedipalp surfaces, a condition present only in four other species of this specious genus. As suggested here, this condition has evolved independently in these species within the ‘‘mexicanus’’ group of Diplocentrus from the rest of the diplocentrids.

Reference:
Santibanez-Lopez CE, Gonzalez-Santillan E. A new species of Diplocentrus (Scorpiones: Diplocentridae) with punctate pedipalp surfaces, a diagnostic character within the "mexicanus" group. C R Biol. 2017; In Press. [Subscription required for full text]

Andrés A. Ojanguren-Affilastro and co-workers have recently published a dated molecular phylogeny of the southernmost American species of the family Buthidae. I refer to the abstract and the paper for details. The paper also discuss the colonization routes for the Buthidae into America in ancient time.

Abstract:A dated molecular phylogeny of the southernmost American species of the family Buthidae, based on two nuclear and two mitochondrial genes, is presented. Based on this study, analyzed species of the subgenus Tityus (Archaeotityus) are neither sister to the remaining species of the genus Tityus, nor are they closely related to the New World microbuthids with decreasing neobothriotaxy. Analyzed species of the subgenus Tityus do not form a monophyletic group. Based on ancestral area estimation analyses, known geoclimatic events of the region and comparisons to the diversification processes of other epigean groups from the area, a generalized hypothesis about the patterns of historical colonization processes of the family Buthidae in southern South America is presented. Furthermore, for the first time, a Paleogene-African ingression route for the colonization of America by the family Buthidae is proposed as a plausible hypothesis.

Andrea Rossi has recently published a paper discussing the distribution of the genus Buthus Leach, 1815 (Buthidae) in the basin countries of the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. A new species from Ghana is also presented.

Buthus danyii Rossi, 2017

Abstract:The presence of the genus Buthus Leach, 1815 in the basin countries of the Gulf of Guinea was reported almost seventy years ago, but the precise identity of the species remained for a long time unknown. Up to now only three species of the genus Buthus are recorded in such region: Buthus prudenti Lourenço & Leguin, 2012 from Cameroon, Buthus elizabethae Lourenço, 2005 from Guinea (but also present in Senegal) and Buthus elhennawyi Lourenço, 2005 from Niger (but also present in Senegal). A fourth species, Buthus danyii sp. n., is now described from Ghana.

Reference:
Rossi A. The genus Buthus Leach, 1815 in the basin countries of the Gulf of Guinea with the description of a new species from Ghana (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Onychium. 2017;13:9-15. [Open Access]